Origin of Residual Oil Zones and Emergent Commercial Exploitation
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
‘UNCONVENTIONAL’ EOR TARGETS Residual Oil Zones The Wyoming Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute‘s Conference Entitled “Recovering Stranded Oil through Improved and Enhanced Oil Recovery Technologies” September 13 – 14, 2010 Snow King Resort Jackson, WY 2 Past Thanks Go to: • Some of the Early Pioneering Work Done in Wyoming & the Rockies Looking at Reservoir Hydrodynamics • King Hubbert – circa 1950’s • The UTPB ‘Team’ in Midland/Odessa • The Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA) • The U.S. DOE and Advanced Resources, International Much Work Remains so…. Future ‘Thanks’ Likely to Go to: • RPSEA • USDOE • Cooperating Industry Partners • EORI 3 But First………….. Geologist his 4 RESIDUAL OIL ZONES A GAME CHANGER? WHERE ARE THEY AND HOW FORMED? Origins of Residual Oil Zones and Identification Methodology • ROZ Origins (…..Sorry if this is Repetitive) • The Fascinating ROZ Science – State of the Knowledge • ROZ Types – Examples • The Anecdotal Evidence • Screening Methodology • A Southern Williston Example • A Wyoming Example • We’ve Only Just Begun – So Much Work Yet to be Done 5 The Stage is Set for the Age of EOR Example Quotes: “Kuwait Researchers Forecast Global Conventional Crude Oil Production Will Peak in 2014 “The End of Cheap Oil?” (Former Shell President) “The New Cycle of Resource Nationalism is Bad News” (‘Universal’ Concern) A Lot of Folks have Looked at EOR Targets Like we Looked at Waterflood Targets (i.e., Main Pay Zones only) Let’s Re-examine (Challenge) that Perspective 7 Original Oil Accumulation Under Static Aquifer Conditions (A Hypothetical Example) W E 8 Original Accumulation Subject to a Westward Regional Tilt WW EE TYPE 1 ROZ 9 Original Accumulation with a Breached then Reformed Seal ORIGINAL POST BREACH TYPE 2 ROZ 10 Change in Hydrodynamic Conditions, Sweep of the Lower Oil Column, Oil/water Contact Tilt, and Development Of The Residual Oil Zone W E TYPE 3 ROZ 11 All Three of those Post Entrapment Adjustments (Scenarios) Lead to Pay Zone Flushing Attributes of the ROZ Types Case History: Region 1 Let’s Talk a bit about the Permian Basin 13 San Andres (Permian Guadalupian) 14 Post-Subsidence (Entrapment) Phase* of Permian Basin Development** ~50% of Permian Basin Production WEST EAST * Dated at Late Permian through Cretaceous ** Adapted from Lindsay, R.F. (2001), W. Tx Geological Society Fall Symposium, Oct 01, Midland Tx USA 15 Extensional Phases and Reduction of Hydrodynamic Gradients in the Permian Basin* EAST * Ref: Lindsay, R.F. (2001), W. Tx Geological Society Fall Symposium, Oct 01, Midland Tx USA 16 A Curious Exploitation ‘Thing’ Has Quietly Moved Forward in the Permian Basin MIDDLE SAN ANDRES PALEOGEOGRAPHY with Location of Active Industry ROZ Zones/CO2 EOR Projects* NORTHWEST NORTHERN SHELF SHELF Restricted Carbonate Shelf VACUUM WASSON FIELD (DENVER & FIELD BENNETT RANCH UNITS HANFORD FIELD SEMINOLE FIELD Guadalupe Shelf Margin Hobbs GOLDSMITH FIELD EASTERN Mountains “reef” Central Midland New Mexico SHELF Basin Texas Platform Delaware Midland San Angelo Basin Basin There are 9 total Open ROZ projects now Marine Rumor has it there is with two more a Chemical EOR ROZ scheduled for pilot underway and start by early ‘11 another one in design Marathon Overthrust Belt * Adapted from Sagnak (2006), Chevron Presentation at the 12/06 CO2 Flooding Conference (Anecdoctal) Evidence of ROZs 19 OIL SHOWS WITHOUT PRIMARY (OR SECONDARY) PRODUCTION • Residual Oil in Cuttings • Utility of Mud logs • Drill Stem Tests UV LIGHT WHITE LIGHT 20 SWEEP WATER* ATTRIBUTES • Updip Origins – Surface Caverns – Karst • Evidence of “Connection” to Petroleum Sources and Entrapments – Fairways – Lineaments – Sulfur, H2 S, Reservoir ‘Alchemy’ • Discharge (Corrosive Zones) • Temporal Effects – Mixing Zones (think both laterally and vertically) – OWC Tilts * The “Flushing Water” - Most of these Relate to Type 3 ROZs: Lateral Sweep Origins Another “Anecdote” 21 OWC Tilts (Type 3 ROZs) 22 Distribution of San Andres Tilted Oil-Water Contacts in the Northern Shelf and Central Basin Platform Areas of the Permian Basin* But OWC Tilts Occur Elsewhere 23 Permian Basin Stratigraphic Chart (Permian Only) OWC Tilts Occur Elsewhere 24 Abo Cross-Section Through Major NM Fields Note: Tilted OWC After Lemay (1960), Southwestern Federation of Geological Societies Transactions, Oct 12-14, 1960 And Yet……Other ‘Anecdotal’ Evidence Another “Anecdote” 26 DOLOMITIZATION • Magnesium Rich Flush Waters • Porosity/Perm Enhancements • Pervasive Zonations • Geological Timing (Late Stage, Biogenic) • Anhydrite Conversion 27 Reservoir ‘Alchemy’ Zero Porosity Rock Biogenic Reaction CaSO4 + HC CaCO3 + H2 O + H2 S Non-Biogenic Chemical Reactions Reservoir Rock CaCO3 + Mg MgCa(CO3 )2 Picked up as Flush Water Moves through Mg Salts Gamma Ray Neutron Log DST 486’ Sulfur H2O 5000’ First Currings Sample Shows = 5330’ ROZ 5500’ Northern Base of Cuttings ‘Strong” Flour = 5620’ Central Basin PDI* Platform Area 6000’ 6500’ T/Glorieta * Pervasively Dolomitized Interval 29 A Sidebar Thought If Anhydrite Conversion Pervasively Occurs in the ROZ Does this Offer a Greater Application of Chemical (SP) Technologies? Another “Anecdote” 30 WATER SALINITIES • Sulfur Water Occurrence • Source to Discharge Mixing • Evidence of Pathways Another “Anecdote” 31 SULFUR ACCUMULATIONS • Biological Processes – Aerobic – Anaerobic • Associations • Geographical Occurrence • Quantitative Estimates of Petroleum ‘Consumption’ • Did the Flushed Oil all Get Consumed? – Strat Traps Down-gradient – Heavy Oil and Tar Sands Down-gradient But….at least in the PB, a Lot of Oil Stayed in Place 33 (SCOPING PHASE) PERMIAN BASIN RESIDUAL OIL ZONE STUDY* * ACRONYMS USED: OOIP = Original Oil in Place; BB = Billion Barrels, TZ = Transition Zone; ROZ = Residual Oil Zone, MPZ = Main Pay Zone * Ref: Technical Oil Recovery Potential From Residual Oil Zones: Permian Basin, U.S. Department of Energy Report, Koperna, G.J., Kuuskraa, V.A., Advanced Resources International, Feb 2006 Ho Hum…..I work in the Rockies so what do I care about the Permian Basin? Let’s Look Outside WILLISTON BASIN ROZ METHODOLOGY SOUTHERN WILLISTON BASIN ROZ PLAYS? 37 Why Look for ROZs in the Southern Williston Basin? • The Source Rock for the Ordovician Reservoirs is Thermally Mature to Overmature at the Basin Center, and Pinches Out On the Basin Flanks. Winnipeg Shale and Marine Shales of the Red River Formation are Thought to be the Primary Source Rock. Hydrocarbon Generation and Migration is Estimated to Have Begun in Late Paleozoic Time1 (entrapment stage). • The Black Hills uplift is a large, rather simple, doubly plunging anticlinal uplift of Laramide age (second stage) and appears to be related to faulting at depth2. • The Area Thus Meets the Requirements of at least two stages of tectonics. 1) Peterson, James A. and MacCary, Lawrence M., 1987, "Regional Stratigraphy and General Petroleum Geology of the U.S. Portion of the Williston Basin and Adjacent Areas", Williston Basin: Anatomy of a Cratonic Oil Province, Rocky Mnt Assoc of Geologists, p. 9-43. 2) Geomorphology from Space, NASA Ref http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/geomorphology 38 Regional Structure of the Mission Canyon Fm. and Location of Important Oil Fields and Greater Billings Nose Study Area, Williston Basin * * Ref: Berg, R.R., DeMis, W.D., Mitsdarffer, A.R. (1994), “Hydrodynamic Effects on Mission Canyon (Mississippian) Oil Accumulation, Billings Nose Area, North Dakota,” AAPG Bulletin, V. 78, No. 4, April 1994, pp. 501-518 39 Williston Basin Stratigraphic Column Mississippian: Mission Canyon Formation Ordovician: Red River Formation 40 Regional Production and Shows for the NW South ND Dakota Region. The Map SD Shows Both the Areas of Oil and Gas Production and Buffalo Field Areas Where Hydrocarbon (Red River) Lantry Field Shows in ‘Dry Holes’ were (Red River) Encountered. The Colors Correspond to the Stratigraphic Formation or Interval in which the Production or Show is Associated (After United States Geological Survey, 1996). 41 Red River Oil Fields in NW So. Dakota Lantry Field Parameters Buffalo Field Parameters (an example of Cedar Creek Anticline production) Formation: Ordovician Red River Formation: Ordovician Red River Lithology: limestone / dolomite Lithology: limestone / dolomite Average Depth: 5000 feet Average Depth: 8600 feet Porosity: 10% Porosity: 20% Permeability: unknown Permeability: unknown Oil / Gas Column: unknown Oil / Gas Column: unknown Ave. Net Pay Thickness: 30 feet Ave. Net Pay Thickness: 15 feet Other Formations w/ Shows: Mission Canyon, Stony Other Formations w/ Shows: Charles and Red Mtn, and Red River River Other Information: initial IP 24 BOPD; gravity 22 API; Other Information: initial IP 80 BOPD; gravity 30 62 BWPD; cumulative production (1995) 135 MBO, API; 200 BWPD; cumulative production (1995) 19.8 5.2 MMBW, 1 well; Dewey County; primarily a MMBO, 47.2 MMCF, 93 wells; Harding County; structural / stratigraphic trap; also produces large primarily a stratigraphic trap. volumes of 140 degree formation water. 42 Example Log for a Red River Formation Hydrocarbon Show. Taken from a well within the Standing Rock Indian Reservation Boundary (after Howells, 1982) 43 The Nature of the Red River Formation General Characteristics: The Red River Formation is the second most productive formation in the Williston Basin. Reservoirs are dolomites and dolomitic limestones formed from bioclastic mounds and tidal flat deposits. Cyclic episodes of carbonate, evaporite, and organic rich shale provide reservoir, source and seal. Major MPZ